


i'll be home for christmas

by Professional_number_cruncher



Series: Christmas one shots 2020 [5]
Category: Cars (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Doc is Jesse, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Sheriff is Sheridan, We gave them real names, almost a proposal, it's Christmas, it's only mentioned though, they see Sally and Mater as their kids, they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Professional_number_cruncher/pseuds/Professional_number_cruncher
Summary: The last thing Jesse expected on Christmas Eve was a knock on his door. To his knowledge, all the other residents of Radiator Springs were out of state. Flo and Ramone were down in San Diego with Ramone’s family, Lizzie was with Al in the nearest city, Sheriff was up in New York with his family, and Sarge and Fil were...somewhere. He stood, grabbing a coat, assuming some poor tourist’s car broke down on their way back home and needed his phone. Jesse pulled open the door, shocked to see Sheriff in front of him.Can be read as a stand alone or a companion to Crash and Burn
Relationships: Doc Hudson/Sheriff (Cars)
Series: Christmas one shots 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017318
Kudos: 8





	i'll be home for christmas

The last thing Jesse expected on Christmas Eve was a knock on his door. To his knowledge, all the other residents of Radiator Springs were out of state. Flo and Ramone were down in San Diego with Ramone’s family, Lizzie was with Al in the nearest city, Sheriff was up in New York with his family, and Sarge and Fil were...somewhere. He stood, grabbing a coat, assuming some poor tourist’s car broke down on their way back home and needed his phone. Jesse pulled open the door, shocked to see Sheriff in front of him.  
  
“Howdy, Doc.”  
  
“I...aren’t...weren’t you in New York?” Jesse asked, “With your family?”  
  
The other man shrugged, “Change of plans.”  
  
Doc blinked, “Why?”  
  
“You didn’t think I’d let you spend Christmas alone, did you?” Sheriff smiled.  
  
“What if I wasn’t home?” The doctor asked.  
  
Sheriff rolled his eyes, “You made it pretty clear that you weren’t goin’ anywhere.”  
  
“I can change my mind, can’t I?”  
  
“You can, but you didn’t.”  
  
He stepped out of the doorway and hummed, “I reckon you’re lucky I didn’t.”  
  
“I guess I am,” Sheriff laughed, “you don’t seem to change your mind often though.”  
  
“I’m a man who knows what he likes,” he shrugged, “Come in.”  
  
Sheriff smiled as he walked in, “You weren’t leaving, were you?” he asked, taking note of the jacket the other man was wearing.  
  
“I thought you were a poor soul whose car broke down.” He took off the jacket and dropped it on the chair, “I was ready to give them a lift or jumpstart their car.”  
  
“Ah, so you were preparing to be a good samaritan, doctor?”  
  
“Always have.” Doc chuckled, “You comin’ here is the same though. Taking pity on some poor lost soul.”  
  
“Well, no one should have to spend the holidays alone.”  
  
Doc blinked, then shook his head, “You want a drink?”  
  
Sheriff smiled, “Sure thing, Doc.”  
  
“I got coffee, whiskey, eggnog, and water.” Doc said.  
  
“I’d take some coffee,” Sheriff hummed.  
  
The medical professional smirked, walking to the kitchenette, “This late?”  
  
“Yes, this late.”  
  
“Want me to see if I have decaf left over from Mater?”  
  
“Regular coffee is fine.”  
  
Doc sighed, “So...you’re not going to be sleeping tonight? Should I make some for myself too?”  
  
Sheriff laughed, “If you want to,”  
  
“Are you staying the night?” His voice softened.  
  
“Would you like me to?”  
  
“Up to you. I’m asking so I know if I should make myself any,” Doc smiled.  
  
“Then sure, I’ll stay the night,” Sheriff answered.  
  
“I hope you don’t expect me to have a gift for you,” Doc said, focusing on the coffee maker in front of him.  
  
Sheriff sat at the counter, “No, I don’t expect a gift.”  
  
“Good.” He chuckled, filling the mugs with coffee, “You like creamer and one sugar, right?”  
  
“I do,” Sheriff smiled.  
  
Doc grinned, fixing his coffee the exact way Sheriff likes it, then held out the mug, “What’d your family think?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Sheriff shrugged, “I guess I’ll find out when they call me.”  
  
“...you didn’t.”  
  
“Didn’t what?”  
  
“Leave without saying goodbye to them,” Doc elaborated.  
  
“I may have left without saying anything about where I was going,” Sheriff answered, nonchalantly.  
  
“But they did know you were going?”  
  
“I said I needed some fresh air, that’s what this is… in a way.”  
  
Doc sighed, “They’re gonna think you were kidnapped. Or murdered.”  
  
“That’s okay.”  
  
“Sheridan.” Doc started, ignoring how foreign the man’s actual name felt in his mouth, “That is not okay.”  
  
The other man smiled sadly, “Doc, I promise you, they won’t care that much.”  
  
“I’d care.”  
  
“Which is why I came home after visiting family,”  
  
The doctor sighed and shook his head, then paused, “Home?”  
  
Sheridan nodded, but it was nearly imperceptible as he shrugged.  
  
“...I guess you have lived in Radiator Springs long enough for that to make sense.” He nodded, blushing slightly as he took a sip of his coffee. Doc smiled, “I forget how long it’s been sometimes.”  
  
“Longer than you’ve been here, that’s for sure.”  
  
“Shut up, officer,” Doc grinned, “I’m a drifter still.”  
  
“You don’t have to be a drifter still,” Sheridan’s voice softened.  
  
He took a deep breath, staring at the dark drink in his cup, “I...put down some roots. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”  
  
The sheriff hummed, taking a drink, “Guess so,”  
  
Doc sighed, “I can’t give you any more than that, Sher.”  
  
“That’s alright,” Sheridan smiled at Doc.  
  
“That said,” Doc smiled slightly, “I was going to do this when everyone was back, but, since you’re home…” He walked to the living room and grabbed a cardboard box from under the tree, “I was going to wrap them later.”  
  
“I thought you told me not to expect a gift, Doc,” Sheridan sighed, “now I’m a terrible guest.”  
  
“You were a terrible guest when you turned up uninvited on Christmas Eve.” He shrugged, chuckling as he handed over the box, “It’s nothing big.”  
  
“Well if you’re sure,” he hummed, turning it over in his hands.  
  
“I’m not going to take it back, Sher,” Doc rolled his eyes.  
  
“I’m never sure with you,” He winked, “Can I open it?”  
  
“Yes, you can open it,”  
  
Sheriff nodded, opening the flaps of the cardboard to reveal a folded up...something. He lifted it out, revealing one of Doc’s old racing jackets, “Jesse…”  
  
The other man shrugged, “It’s just a jacket, Sher.”  
  
“Jess…” he smiled slightly, “It’s more than that and you know it. When’d you start getting so sentimental?”  
  
“I’m not sure,” he hummed, “when’d you start leaving your family without saying anything about why?”  
  
“They don’t need to know why,” Sheriff pulled on the jacket, “They don’t care where I am.”  
  
Doc sighed, “What’d they do… or say?”  
  
“Wondering why I’m wasting my time out here when I could be a traffic cop in New York City like them,” He shook his head, taking another sip, “Like that’s somehow the highest anyone can aim for.”  
  
“Weren’t they bugging you to find someone and settle down last time you talked? Now they want you to move your life back to New York?”  
  
“They set me up on a date for tomorrow. They think there’s this chick out there that would complete me.” Sheridan grumbled, “Like I’m not already complete.”  
  
Jesse laughed, “So you bailed on some poor girl too?”  
  
“And what if I did?” he smiled, “Better than letting her think she had a chance.”  
  
“Guess so,”  
  
“I’m sure they’ll send one of my cousins out in my place.” Sheriff said, “Once they realize I left.”  
  
Doc hummed, “How long do you think that’ll take?”  
  
“What time is it? 8? So…” he tapped the table, “probably a day.”  
  
“You think they’ll call you to yell on Christmas?”  
  
“...definitely.” Sheriff nodded, “But I’m not at my house, am I? Guess I’ll have to avoid it.”  
  
Doc smiled, “I guess so,”  
  
“You alright with me staying here, doctor?”  
  
“I think I already offered once.”  
  
Sher smiled, “I meant for...longer.”  
  
“You can stay as long as you like,” Doc nodded.  
  
He grinned into his mug, “I think they might’ve been onto something, you know.”  
  
“I think they’ve been quietly hoping it would go away if they pretended it didn’t exist.”  
  
“I didn’t mean me being queer, Doc, I meant settling down. They have a point.” Sheriff laughed.  
  
“Oh,” Doc nodded, before looking at the other man, “Oh.”  
  
“Yeah?” He took a sip, “Oh?”  
  
“I guess they might have a point,”  
  
“I was just...on my drive home,” Sheriff started, “I was thinking about Sal and Mater, and all those stray cats and...well I reckon we spend more time with each other than alone.”  
  
Doc leaned back slightly, “What are you getting at, Sher?”  
  
“Not sure yet.” he admitted, looking anywhere but the other man, “But I wanted to hear your thoughts.”  
  
“I think,” Doc started, “that the jacket I gave you is the closest thing you’d ever get to a proposal from me, and that you know that.”  
  
“I was more thinking about moving in together, to be honest,” Sheriff hummed, “I think Sarge and Fil’s whole civil union thing is...not our thing. And it ain’t like we could get married.”  
  
“Do you want to move in with me?” Doc asked, “You can ignore your house phone and let your parents call all day.”  
  
“S’that something you would be interested in?”  
  
“I’m asking you to, aren’t I?”  
  
“I’m just checking,” Sheriff held up his hands defensively, “Want to make sure it isn’t just cause I mentioned it.”  
  
“I’ve actually been waiting on you to bring it up,” Doc laughed, “so I could pretend to have to think about it for a few days.”  
  
“You know, you can...ask to move forward, right?” Sheriff smiled, adjusting the jacket.  
  
“I forget sometimes,” Doc hummed, “but I did ask you to move in, didn’t I?”  
  
“I’d love to move in with you, Jess,” Sher answered, gently setting his hand on his partner’s knee.  
  
“Then it’s settled,” he smiled.  
  
“It’s a shame my family would hate you,” he grinned, “I think they’d be glad to know I’m...complete.”  
  
“I’m not great with parents anyways,” Doc laughed, “they’d probably hate me.”  
  
“What about your family?” Sheriff asked, “Or Smokey and them?”  
  
“What about them?”  
  
“Well, you’re here on Christmas. Instead of out there with them,” he shrugged, “Just wondering what they’d be thinking about that.”  
  
“I don’t know,” Jesse shrugged, “I haven’t seen them in a while though, I don’t think they’ll mind.”  
  
Sheriff frowned, “You don’t think they miss you?”  
  
He hummed, thinking, “I think… that they understand that our lives are on different paths now.”  
  
“They were your best friends, Doc.”  
  
“The key word there being ‘were’,” Doc said, “things change, you know that.”  
  
“They still write you, don’t they?” Sheridan asked, “they miss you.”  
  
“I’ll write back sometime this week, okay?”  
  
He smiled and nodded, “Yeah, now come and give me a kiss, Jesse.”  
  
“Alright,” he laughed.  
  
“Thank you, it’s a medical emergency.”  
  
“I’m glad you came home for Christmas,” Jesse smiled softly.  
  
“I wouldn’t’ve had it any other way, Jesse, I felt bad leaving you,” Sheriff hummed.  
  
“Well you’re back now, that’s what counts.”  
  
Sheridan nodded, softly admitting, “I wish I hadn’t left.”  
  
“You’d’ve felt like shit if you didn’t check in, even if your family is…the way they are,” Doc shook his head, laying his hand on his partner’s cheek, “This is the best outcome, I think.”


End file.
